Although customers of the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Co., the cities of Colton and Redlands, and the Beaumont-Cherry Valley, Cucamonga Valley and Coachella Valley water districts have cut usage since last summer, they’re among the 10 districts that have cut the least: Cucamonga Valley customers cut 4.36 percent since July, using an average of 153 gallons per day.

But in Rialto, water use has actually gone up since then, with each user using an average of 138 gallons a day, up 3.69 percent since July.

That data comes from an analysis performed by The Associated Press, which looked at the 205 largest of California’s 420 water districts. In those districts, which each serve at least 40,000 customers, the average water use dropped by 11 percent since July. Those customers each used an average of 130 gallons per day, significantly less than the Inland Empire districts, which cut the least.

Rialto officials told the AP that water levels reported to the state are misleading, as the agency has been putting water into storage and overall consumption since July has decreased.

Customers of the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Co. in the High Desert did cut back on their water use over the past seven months, but only by 1.77 percent, and customers still use an average of 158 gallons per day.

But it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison with water customers in other areas, according to Eric Larsen, manager of financial services for Apple Valley Ranchos.

“Local ordinances require a minimum lot size of half of an acre” for single family homes, he said. “You get into a more densely populated areas, and you get six or eight houses on a half-acre.”

The driving wind and sandy soil in the High Desert also complicate things,” he said.

“Up here, you make a little puddle of water on the dirt, and it’s gone in five minutes,” Larsen said.

The water company, a private utility regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, has actually seen its customers cut use by 43.2 percent since 2004, Larsen said.

Those cuts have mostly been made through education and outreach to customers, according to Larsen.

“We’ve never had a single case where we had to refer someone to (Apple Valley) Code Enforcement.”

Tiered water rates, where customers can potentially see a big jump in their water rates for using just a bit more water, were passed by the PUC in 2009 and have helped drive down use, he said.

“It has been effective in getting users’ attention,” he said.

Water customers in the city of Colton only cut back their use by 1.84 percent, and still use an average of 140 gallons of water a day.

Again, the problem is largely that customers have been working on reducing their water consumption for years, according to Jennifer Shimmin, a water conservation specialist for the city.

“It comes to a point where you have said the same thing over and over, so when something drastic like a severe drought occurs, you have to find a way to change your message,” Shimmin wrote in an email. “Since people already have been given the message to conserve, and have been doing it, it’s hard to squeeze more savings out in a short period of time. Not to say that there isn’t a lot that can be done, but it’s all about finding a way to get people educated and interested.”

Looking at a change from last summer to today is too short of a period, according to Shimmin:

“If the AP study had looked at a longer period of time, and tried to compare ‘apples to apples,’ they would have seen that Southern California has been steadily reducing their usage over the years. However, I will say that it’s a grand task to try and compare Southern to Northern in California. Climate, water source, weather, and population density are just a few of the factors that differentiate the two regions.”

In Redlands, where customers only cut 3.44 percent of their use since July, customers used an average of 244 gallons of water per day, almost twice the average of the statewide list and two and a half times the average use of 100 gallons in the South Coast Hydrologic Region, which stretches from Ojai to the Mexican border and includes the western half of San Bernardino County.

Redlands officials disagree with The Associated Press’ methodology.

“They should really be looking at it on a month by month basis,” said Cecilia Griego, water conservation coordinator for the city.

Residential customers are actually using 138 gallons per day, she said.

“It is one of the higher ones, but in comparison to (other districts), it’s not far off,” Griego said.

Redlands’ water customers have reduced their water use by 12 percent since 2010, she said. The state has set a goal of districts reducing water use by 20 percent by 2020.

”So we’ve surpassed that halfway mark,” Griego said.

Next month, the Redlands City Council will consider new restrictions, including prohibiting irrigation for 48 hours after the city receives measurable rain, according to city spokesman Carl Baker.

And in the Cucamonga Valley Water District, based in Rancho Cucamonga, customers cut their water use by 4.36 percent since July, although they still use an average of 153 gallons a day.

The list of districts that have made the least changes since July reflects that Northern Californians have long been behind their southern counterparts on water conservation, making it easier for them to make big gains in seven months, according to Jo Lynne Russo-Pereyra, assistant general manager of the Cucamonga Valley Water District.

“It paints Southern California as the bad guys, when up in Northern California there are districts where they don’t even have (residential) water meters,” she said. “We do conservation all the time down here because we have to.”

The district’s customers use 20 percent less water then they did in 2010, Russo-Pereyra said.

“There’s always more that we can do, and we’re attempting to do more,” she said, “but it’s not exactly apples to apples.”

Beau Yarbrough wrote his first newspaper article taking on an authority figure (his middle school principal) when he was in 7th grade. He’s been a professional journalist since 1992, working in Virginia, Egypt and California. In that time, he’s covered community news, features, politics, local government, education, the comic book industry and more. He’s covered the war in Bosnia, interviewed presidential candidates, written theatrical reviews, attended a seance, ridden in a blimp and interviewed both Batman and Wonder Woman (Adam West and Lynda Carter). He also cooks a mean pot of chili.